


Wretched and Divine

by DemonRomantic



Category: Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler
Genre: M/M, Mpreg, pregnant ciel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-05
Updated: 2018-07-02
Packaged: 2019-05-18 15:33:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 8
Words: 10,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14855442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DemonRomantic/pseuds/DemonRomantic
Summary: I just recently found out that I am going to be an auntie <3, so I have pregnancy on the brain with this one.I've been wanting to write an mpreg fic for Sebastian and Ciel for a little bit now, though I was a little bit apprehensive at first given the genre. Hopefully you all enjoy it. :) As usual, thank you all for reading and for your comments. I love the comments! <3





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I just recently found out that I am going to be an auntie <3, so I have pregnancy on the brain with this one.   
> I've been wanting to write an mpreg fic for Sebastian and Ciel for a little bit now, though I was a little bit apprehensive at first given the genre. Hopefully you all enjoy it. :) As usual, thank you all for reading and for your comments. I love the comments! <3

Wretched and Divine  
By DemonRomantic

Chapter 1  
Sinful pleasures often have divine consequences.  
There was a time not so long ago that I believed in the fair judgment between right and wrong. A line which one did not cross. Evil was repaid with evil, and good with good. Life, however, is not so simple, nor is it fair. The Angels who supposedly watch over us, turn a blind eye when things become unfair, and Demons… Demons can be saviors. So many times, I tried to believe in the lies I once did. Close out those horrible nightmares. It wasn’t until I accepted my Demons, quite literally, that I learned truth.   
Darkness can be beautiful, and Demons can love.

“Sebastian, come here.” I called, extending my hand outwards toward him.  
His handsome face turned to penetrate my very soul with those beautiful burgundy eyes.   
“Is that an order, Master?” He smirked, raising an eyebrow.  
“No.” I said, but it carried a weight to it.   
He crossed my chamber floor until he was back at the side of my bed and set down the candelabra on my nightstand. It offered the only illumination in the room; the curtains having been pulled shut. In the dreamy glow, he looked a phantom.   
‘How fitting.’ I thought.  
“Is something the matter, my lord?” His voice was quiet, but shook my very core with it’s deep, rich lilt.   
“Recite me a poem. The one by Poe.” I asked.  
He smiled warmly and sat on the foot of my bed where I pressed my foot against him, just to have some kind of contact. In silence he removed his gloves, one after the other in slow deliberate movements, and placed them neatly beside the candelabra. After placing a gentle hand against my covered knee, he began.  
“‘It was many and many a year ago, in a kingdom by the sea, that a maiden there lived, whom you may know, by the name of Anabelle Lee. And this maiden she lived, with no other thought, then to love and be loved by me…’”  
Once he had finished reciting the poem, I sat up and placed my hand against his face. His skin was cold despite the warmth of the manor. Brushing against that icy pallor, I leaned in to press my lips to his. He returned the kiss with controlled hunger at first, which quickly turned to ravenous appetite. I could feel myself being forced back down into the conformities of my mattress and wrapped my arms around him to take him down with me. There we embraced in bodily worship and caressed each other’s faces with hand and mouth alike.   
It did not take long for our clothing to become lost to the abyss of the floor somewhere off in that darkness. Closing my eyes, all that I became aware of were the touches against my skin and whispered longings in my ears. To each of those longings I submitted, and made my own demands known. The friction accumulated between us became livid as fire and burst like electricity. Once all had been spent, we lay in an ecstatic glow putting the candlelight to shame. He kissed me softly and repetitively on the forehead, where his lips had come to lie after all was said and done. Neither of us wanted to move, and I don’t think that I could have in that moment. Between the kisses on my head, he also repeated a line from the poem in whispered words. They were the promise of his passion, and the curse of our actions.   
“ ‘…We loved with a love that was more than love, I and my Anabelle Lee. With a love that the winged seraphs of Heaven coveted her and me.”


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2  
“Dear, GOD! Sebastian what did you feed me that made me so ill?” I shouted, before retching into a wash basin that was now my vomit catcher.   
“I don’t believe this was caused by my doing, sir. No doubt it is a result of your over indulgences in sweets that has made you this undignified.”   
“Oh, shut up!” I gagged. “Sure you aren’t back to preparing your meals with an abundance of salt and vinegar?”  
Dropping the banter, he came to retrieve the basin from me and rubbed my back with the other hand.   
“I am sorry that you are unwell. Perhaps some milk with a spot of honey would do the-”  
“Blegh!” The contents of my stomach barely avoided covering my lap as Sebastian put the bowl back in place.  
“Or perhaps not.”   
“Just let me die already…” I moaned.   
“Tsk-tsk. You poor thing, maybe a visit from a physician is in order.”   
“Only if they come here, I am not leaving this bed.” To emphasize my point, I gripped my coverlet and plopped down against my pillow with another groan.   
“It will take some time for a doctor to arrive, so please do try and rest for the time being. I shall have the rest of the staff avoid you at all cost should an epidemic arise.”  
I groaned once in response.

“So then, I assume this is the person in question?” An elderly voice I did not recognize asked.  
Peeping over the covers, I saw a small old man with messy white hair approaching me.  
“Ah, well hello there, Earl Phantomhive. I do hope that is you under there.”  
I uncovered myself and worked to prop up on my pillows, while Sebastian arranged them behind me.   
“Mm. Touch of stomach troubles is it? Haven’t been sneaking swigs of brandy I hope. Not that there would be any in your home though, now would there?”  
“No. I don’t partake of drink unless it’s for a toast.”   
“Wise of you, to be sure.” He began rummaging around in his bag and pulled out a tongue compressor, which he promptly shoved in my mouth without advanced warning. “The question of course then, is what caused it.”  
After examining my throat, he did a manner of other procedures that seemed unessisary and then snapped his bag shut.   
“Hmm. Doesn’t seem to be any reason for you to be sick, sir. If I didn’t know any better, I might call this morning sickness.”  
“Morning sickness?” I said.  
“It is a symptom of pregnant women, so naturally, you wouldn’t be experiencing it yourself. I deduce this is nothing more than a touch of stomach flu. It should be gone in a few days. Nothing to worry about.”   
The doctor took his leave, being escorted to the door by Mey-rin, and Sebastian and I were left alone.  
“Well that was a complete bloody waist of time.”   
Sebastian had his hand at his lip, so I knew that he was thinking hard about something.  
“What is it? Your making that face you do.”  
“Hmm? Oh, forgive me my lord, it is nothing. Just an amusing image I had of you as a woman from not that long ago.”  
I felt the blood rise to my face before the shout left my mouth. “Damn you!”  
“Most assuredly it’s too late for that, young master.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This possibly will be too cheesy, but I am the queen of cheese so it's staying. I want their relationship to be more lovey in this one.

Chapter 3  
“It’s not going away, that doctor was a bloody kook! Where in the Hell did you find that loon?” I scolded Sebastian as he dressed me.  
“He is a local physician, the closest I could find out here in the country. It has only been two days, young master. Do please try and be patient, your health will return to you soon.”  
“Not nearly soon enough. I have business to attend to. I can’t be vomiting all over my paper work no matter how tedious it is.”  
“It did seem to get better in the afternoon, did it not?”  
“Somewhat… There have been churnings that warn of imminent nausea.”   
His hand was suddenly brushing my bangs out of my face, and he looked at me as if he wanted to throw me down and devour me right then and there. I shuddered as his façade slipped ever so slightly to reveal his true eyes for a brief moment before they returned to their burgundy ruse.   
“It has been frustrating for me as well. Keeping myself off of you is becoming intolerable. You seem to beam with radiance the longer I look at you.”  
I grabbed his clothed hand and laced fingers with his before looking up at him. “You are quite the romantic, aren’t you?”  
He smirked. “You don’t live as long as I do without becoming proficient in the ways of charming your pray.”  
Pressing up to him as he leaned down, our lips met in the middle.   
“You won’t get sick from this, will you?” I mumbled against his mouth.   
“Not hardly. As a Demon, I’m not prone to ailments the way humans are. There are some similarities however in sex drive. Even my kind have to reproduce.” He said matter-of -factly before lifting me up into his arms and attacking my mouth again.   
“Not much use in this then. After all, I’m no woman.”  
A thought crossed my mind then and I frowned. He felt the change in my mood and reluctantly pulled away, though I did still hold onto his neck as he held me.   
“Is something the matter?”   
“Sebastian, does that sort of thing matter when it comes to your kind?”  
He got that look he often did when he didn’t want to share something he knew. Usually he did that to tease me, but this time it looked as if he weren’t entirely sure of his answer.  
“It is rare for a Demon to select a human for their mate, and even rarer still for a human to bare that Demon’s spawn. I can think of no incident I’ve ever heard of where a human male bore a Demon’s child.”  
“But you’re not saying it’s impossible?”  
He sighed. “When there is an offspring present, it is not so much a pregnancy as a possession of a human’s body. The host does not need to possess a womb, for the Demon feeds from their soul. Which is why often times the host will in fact succumb to death before the child is born. It does not always happen, but it has.”  
“What!” I struggled in his grasp until he put me down on the rug. “You’re saying that I could actually be pregnant?!”   
Fear took hold of me and I sank to the floor. I felt sicker than ever, but my stomach was empty enough that I did not expel anything but frustrated tears.   
“Damn it, Sebastian! How could you not tell me that!?”   
He winced. “I did not think it possible. However, the evidence is all there.”  
After a breath of silence, I spoke.  
“How long?” I whispered. “How long until it kills me?”  
I felt his hands come down upon my shoulders and looked up at him with anger and terror. His eyes were calculating and unapologetic, and his tone was final. “It is not going to kill you.”  
“Are you suggesting that I have it removed?” The words slipped from my mouth automatically, but as soon as I said them they tasted like the bile still lingering on my tongue. “That would kill it.”   
His eyes were colder than usual. “You mean to tell me you’d rather it stay alive and kill you?”  
“Please,” I snickered without humor. “I’ve already given my soul up once. What is a second time?”  
The hands on my shoulders pulled me into him suddenly, and I thought for a moment that he would rip me apart, but instead he held me tight enough to make me gasp.   
“Sebastian?” I struggled for air.  
He eased his grip but did not let go. He was on his knees now and had his face buried in my stomach. “I could not bare to lose you. I have not felt for so long, that I would never feel again if you were to die.”  
I let my arms wrap around him as well and stroked his back. “I thought that that is what it meant to give my soul to you.”   
His dark hair shook back and forth. “No. Your soul belongs to me, and each day I devour it anew. It is not meant to be snuffed out. I discovered that long ago. Instead, I have been savoring your life span, feeding off of your energy little by little. It’s not enough to kill you, but this…”  
He warily brought a hand up to my stomach and pressed it gently to my abdomen. After a brief moment of consideration, I put my hand over his. When he looked up at me I smiled.  
“Perhaps it may not work, but if this being is a part of both of us, then I would rather not do away with it. Like you said, it will not kill me. I have already survived you, do you have such little faith in me that you think I cannot bare your child?”  
A look I had never seen him express before passed over his features. It was a mixture of disbelief and longing as well as love and worry. He brought his head back down and pressed his forehead against me.   
“My child…” He breathed.  
I stroked his hair. “Our child.”   
A tremor went through his shoulders, and I could not tell if it was a chuckle or a sob, but it did not matter. The next thing I knew, I was back in his arms and he was kissing me again, this time tender and soft.   
There came a distant, but distinct sound of breaking glass, followed by a forlorn cry. Sebastian sighed.  
“One thing I know, I’ll certainly have the patience to be a father.” He deposited me on the floor and turned towards the door before pausing and looking back at me. “What should I tell the staff of your condition?”  
“For now, nothing. They’ll assume it was a touch of flu and then forget all about it. As for the future, you and I will relocate to the town home in London once I become obvious and I’ll keep out of public eye.”  
“Would it not be better to send that lot on holiday for a while and stay here in the country?”  
“No. They would have to be gone far longer than is appropriate for a household staff, and the queen will most assuredly wonder if I started neglecting my underworld duties. When the time comes, we will let all parties involved know that I am unwell and need to be put on bedrest for a month or so. I should be able to fulfill my duties all the same until then.”   
“Quite right, sir.”   
He moved to leave once more, but I called after him.  
“Sebastian,”   
He turned.   
“You needn’t put on airs when we’re alone like this. I would have thought that obvious by now.” I smirked.  
He returned the grin and nodded once. “As you say, my love.”


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4  
“Do you really have to go for so long, Master?” Finny asked with a frown, as Sebastian and I were preparing to leave.   
In just a few short weeks, I had already begun to develop a noticeable bump as the child inside me grew. Sebastian helped me conceal it with clothes that made my entire frame look larger, but we had both agreed that it was time to go to London.   
“I’m afraid so. The queen has an assignment that will take some time to complete. While we’re gone I expect the manor to be in impeccable upkeep.”  
“Yes sir!” Finny and the others saluted.   
Sebastian offered me his hand as I struggled into the carriage and turned to give his own words of warning to the servants, which they received with ominous terror. After climbing in and shutting the door, he sat across from me.   
“I hate you.” I said, once I knew the others couldn’t hear.  
Sebastian looked at me with genuine surprise. “What? Why is that?”  
“You did this to me, and now I look like a hot air balloon.”   
He failed to repress a chuckle with his hand. “How fitting that you chose to use the words, ‘hot air’ in that sentence.”  
I brandished my cane and used it to whack him in the leg.   
“That aside, the correspondence from the queen implied that we do in fact have a case.”  
“Indeed.” He withdrew the letter I had received the previous morning which had further motivated me to leave. “Apparently there have been a string of missing person cases, all involving young women. If I had to guess, I’d say it had something to do with a sex trafficking ring.”  
“It always does… Do the police have any leads?”  
“Scotland Yard is still trying to find a link between the women who were abducted, so far their results are lacking. Age, class, race… none of these seem to matter to the culprit. What is even more disturbing is the fact that two of these women have turned up dead. They also appear to be the first of the missing victims.”   
I laced my fingers beneath my chin and pursed my lips. “Then it can’t be a sex trafficking ring. If that were the case, then these women would still be in the hands of whoever bought them. You don’t treat your property like it’s dispensable when it still has a use. How long ago were the bodies discovered?”  
“According to the queen’s reports, only a few days ago.”  
“Then we had best stop off and see the Undertaker before going to the town house.”

The smell in the morgue was making me quite nauseous, but I held back the urge to retch long enough to have the Undertaker take notice of my dilemma.  
“Oh? Me thinks the young earl is a bit under the weather. Perhaps you’d be more comfortable talking elsewhere?”   
I shook my head vigorously. “No, we need to look at the bodies of the women who were brought in. You still have them, don’t you?”  
“Heh-heh. Indeed, me lord, I do. This way if you would be so kind.”   
He led us to a back room where two women lay atop metallic slabs, already dressed up for their funerals. The visualization as well as the smell became too much and I gagged, before clasping a hand over my mouth and nose. Undertaker withdrew a salve from his long sleeves and opened it before extending the tin towards me.   
“It isn’t much, but I find this to be a more soothing scent to my living customers. Just a bit under the nose and you’ll be smelling posies instead of death.”   
I rubbed the salve over my upper lip and around my nostrils until the foul stench was replaced with a floral one.   
“So, these lovely ladies don’t seem to have anything remotely wrong with them in the slightest aside from the fact that they ain’t breathing no more. I did some poking around with them and didn’t find a trace of poison in their systems, nor any marks suggesting they were strangled. Their lungs are drier than bone, so that leaves either asphyxiation or natural causes. I did however notice a peculiarity with both of them though, but I don’t think it would be appropriate to say to ears as young as the earl’s.”   
He chuckled, though I didn’t see what was so funny.  
“Don’t waste my time!”  
The Undertaker smirked. “Well, it seems that both of these ladies were just done becoming mummies. They’re still dilated you see.”  
“Dilated?”   
“Mm-hm. I’d say that they had only just given birth before…” He sliced his sleeved hand across his throat and made a sound to suggest a slitting noise.   
My hand subconsciously went to my stomach and I gripped the fabric there. If the Undertaker noticed, he didn’t say anything, but I did catch a sideways glance from Sebastian.   
“So, that’s it… These women were all taken because they’re pregnant… The question now is, what is the killer doing with the babies?”   
Dark thoughts began to swirl in my head of the place I’d been held in for that month when I was ten. I hadn’t been the only child there, and I knew that none of the others had escaped…  
“Hard to say.” Undertaker shrugged, pulling me out of my thoughts. “No infants were found and if the police don’t know about them, then their probably somewhere in the underworld’s workings. Well, my lord? Are you set on finding them as well?”   
I set my face in stone and nodded once. “Of course. Whether or not the queen was aware of the missing children, I’m sure she’ll want them found as well. Let’s go Sebastian, we should report our findings to the queen as well as the police.”  
Sebastian bowed. “Thank you for your time, Mr. Undertaker.”  
He laughed. “Your most welcome. Oh, and one more thing, milord…”  
I turned to look back at the disturbing man who stood befittingly beside the corpses of the dead women.   
“If I were you, I wouldn’t get too sympathetic ahead of time. Who knows what kind of dark things people could be doing with small babes. It might be better for you to stay out of this matter entirely.”  
I turned back to the door and spoke over my shoulder. “I am the Earl of Phantomhive, and as such it is my duty to delve into the darkness to pull the innocent out whenever it is commanded. If I choose to turn my back on those who need me, then I am not fit to bare the title of the queen’s watchdog.”   
As I exited the macabre building, the true meaning of my words echoed through my mind.   
‘If I cannot save them, then how will I protect my own child?”


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5  
“I swear to god, I’m going to kill you.” I glared, feeling the anger writhing inside my blood.   
Sebastian did his best not to smile, but couldn’t help himself, for there was an unmistakable smirk curling the corners of his lips.   
“I do apologize, master, but this seemed the best option.”  
I was currently, and reluctantly, wearing a dress cut for pregnant woman. It was actually much more comfortable around my stomach than my men’s clothing, which only made me more begrudging. Sebastian stood before me in his own disguise with a pair of spectacles covering his blood-colored irises. Out of his butler’s uniform and in an aristocratic suit tailored by Nina herself, he looked quite fetching, but I was too mad to admit it.   
“I think we can do without the wig this time and simply cover your head with a bonnet and a veil in place of your eyepatch.”  
I growled as he put the items in place.  
“There, now you look the proper picture of an expectant English mother. How ironic that you actually are pregnant.” He smirked.  
“Damn you.” I muttered, then sighed exasperatedly. “Remind me how this is supposed to work?”  
“The culprit is seeking out pregnant women, so in order to lure him out, we shall parade you around town and take note of any individuals who seem to be overly interested in you. You don’t mind playing the bait do you, my lady?”  
“One more word, and I will order you to sleep out in the gutter, you hear me?”   
He smirked but kept quiet. 

The streets of London were crowded up and down with people out for strolls and going about their work. I felt superbly embarrassed to be out amongst them in my current attire, but reminded myself that if I acted normally that no one would suspect me of being anything but a young woman being accompanied by her older husband out on the town. Sebastian laced his arm with mine and I flinched, forgetting myself.  
“What are you doing?!” I hissed out in a whisper, but kept my arm hooked with his.  
He smiled and I wanted to clobber him. “I’m walking arm in arm with my wife down the street, what’s wrong with that, dear?”  
Oh, he wasn’t sleeping in the gutter anymore. Now he was going to be bound to an anchor and flung out into the harbor.  
I dug my nails into him and gripped his arm tight enough that it would have hurt a normal person, but he continued to march along with me in perfect bliss. The bastard! I was so caught up being angry with him, that I failed to notice the person I bumped into as they knocked into me.   
“Oh, dreadfully sorry, madam.” A distinctly familiar voice sent shudders of revulsion throughout my entire being.  
There, in all of his flaunting despicableness, was the Viscount of Druitt. My grip on Sebastian tightened even more so and he took his opposite hand and placed it upon mine in a show of comfort.  
“My, but you are a pretty young lass, if I may be so bold as to say so. I have the distinct memory of meeting someone much like yourself not so long ago at one of my soiree’s. However, you could not possibly be the same maiden, you are far more debonair and less innocent as I can see from your condition.”   
That lecherous scum had the audacity to place a hand on my stomach as if he were fluffing his own pillow before sleeping.   
Before I could move to slap his hand away, Sebastian grabbed it and smiled at the Viscount with that special look of his that he reserved for when the servants broke something or someone he was about to hurt crossed his path.   
“If you would kindly refrain from touching my wife, sir. You see, she has become quite tender with child and any contact to her body is quite painful.”   
I noticed the slight squeeze he gave the Viscount’s fingers as he said the word, ‘painful’.   
Druitt merely smiled politely before withdrawing his hand. “My apologies. That was rather presumptuous of me. You see, I simply cannot resist the alluring radiance of a mother to be, and the babes… lls sont un cadeau. Ces trésors précieux. Well, I do apologize again, though I do hope we run into each other again soon. Ta-ta.”   
As the Viscount continued to stroll down the road, I stared after him and then shared a look with Sebastian. We both knew exactly what the Viscount had meant.  
‘They are a gift. Such precious treasures.’   
“Sebastian…” I said so that only he could hear and feeling the tug in my veiled eye. “Once we are back at the town house, I want you to act accordingly. Even if that means putting me in harms way. I think we’ve found our culprit.”


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6  
Anticipation made it nearly impossible for me to sleep. I knew what was coming, and that I wasn’t actually in danger, but it still made me uneasy to wait to be kidnapped. It opened up old wounds, that never truly closed. So, I pretended to sleep. The length of faux hair skillfully braided into my actual tresses only added to my unease, and I placed a protective hand over my stomach.  
“Don’t worry.” I said aloud in a whisper. “Your fathers won’t let anything happen to you.’  
To my disbelief and surprise, I felt a fluttering movement in my abdomen and jumped slightly at the foreign sensation. My sudden movement caused another succession of flutters before stopping altogether. Before I could think any further on the new discovery, I felt a hand clamp over my mouth and an arm come around my legs while a second set of hands hurriedly bound my wrists and ankles together. I struggled only partly to deter suspicion as I was hauled off and out the front door of the borrowed town house. The real owners were away in the country and wouldn’t be back for weeks. Even though my assailants were being gentle in their handling of me, it was still completely unenjoyable to be whisked away in the middle of the night with your limbs bound together.  
A carriage awaited us in an alley not too far down the street, and I was passed from one set of arms to the next, with hardly any time passing between the hands over my mouth. I had no intention of screaming, and Sebastian already knew what his orders were. A wistful thought crossed my mind as I thought about our contract and how it was still in place without having been altered, even after everything that had transpired between us as of late. Rectifications would most definitely have to be made, but for now I was still enjoying the ability to order him around.  
The men, four of them in all including the cab driver, were silent as we traveled, and I wasn’t of the mind to strike up a conversation with them. I’d know soon enough what the purpose behind the kidnappings was, I didn’t need to make small talk. One of the men, however, seemed to have other intentions.  
“How long?” He demanded, with a welsh sounding accent.  
His stature was large, but he seemed fairly young, probably no older than his thirties. He didn’t look like the sort who would be in this for anything other than money.  
“I beg your pardon?” I said, trying my best to sound like a frightened woman ought to after just being taken from her home in the middle of the night.  
“The kid. How long you been with child?” He said a little more softly.  
“A few months I believe.”  
“And your health?”  
“Fair enough.”  
His face grew stern again. “Why wasn’t your husband with you?”  
“He was called away by his company this afternoon.” I decided to play up the innocent house-wife act. “What is it that you men want? If it’s money, my husband will pay you handsomely.”  
One of the other men laughed. This one was clearly older and seemed more well off than the younger man, and far more cocky. “We don’t care how much he’s willing to pay. Fact of the matter is you won’t be seeing him again any time in the near future. Maybe not ever again if you’re as frail as you look, sweetheart.”  
The younger man turned and looked at his compatriot with a disapproving scowl. “You shouldn’t scare her like that.” He turned back to me with a reassuring smile. “We don’t plan on doing anything to harm you, mum, but he is right about you having to stay with us a while. That is just until after your child’s been born, then you’ll be able to go home.”  
“And what is it exactly you want with my child?” My façade slipped as I said it, even though I knew they would never lay a hand on the baby.  
Something stirred in me as I thought that word. ‘Baby.’ I had never thought of the child as anything but a part of me, and a part of Sebastian, but it was more than that. I had a person growing inside of me. Someone that I intended to bring into the world, but who would also need to be taught… A baby who needed care. Who I had no intention of letting become a part of whatever this cult had in mind, because I did care. For the sake of that part of me that still held onto a shred of humanity, I would not let anything happen to my baby.  
The third man opened the door suddenly, and I realized that we had come to a stop. The second man exited next, and the first man bowed his head in apology before hoisting me up into his arms. As he passed me out of the carriage, he did not answer my question but shook his head ominously.  
“That I cannot say, mum.” 

They took me into what looked like an abandoned storehouse from the outside, but once we passed through the door, it became a banquet hall. Everything from the décor, to the dishes spread out on buffets, and the lounge sofas strewn about with woman swollen with pregnancy looked as if they had belonged there all along. The only thing out of place were the guards who stood sentry at all of the exits, unarmed, but still threating. Casting my gaze around further, I recognized all of the remaining women from the missing case reports. One of whom, was seated on a divan with an infant modestly nursing at her breast, but still clearly pregnant.  
The men escorted me passed the main room and through a door that looked far too eloquent to belong there. On the other side of it was the Viscount Druitt seated at a table and enjoying a spot of tea. He smiled upon seeing me and set down his teacup before shooing away the guards until we were alone together; something which sent a spark of familiar distrust through me.  
“Please sit, my dear. I don’t bite.”  
I remained on my feet and glowered at him.  
“Aw, so stubborn. Well, perhaps that is for the best… I’m sure you are curious why you’ve been brought here so rudely. Allow me to explain. You see, when I was rather young, I always had a fascination with beauty. As I’ve grown, it has become more and more of a desperation for me to remain youthful and beautiful such as a tender young babe. In order to discover the secret to the fountain of youth, I have taken it upon myself to play host to expectant mothers and study their radiance during pregnancy. Not only the mothers, but their babes as well. Which is why I have brought you here to this enchanting retreat, so that you may have a serene and comfortable gestation whilst I undergo my research.”  
Knowing the Viscount, there was something more to this whole operation than he was letting on.  
“So then, why so many women? Wouldn’t one suffice?”  
“Oh, mon Cherie. You would not ask a scientist to run but one test, would you? No, I’m afraid this experiment calls for much more subjects. Sadly, not a single person is willing to undergo my treatments voluntarily, and the first few mothers tragically passed while giving birth. Their children, however, are alive and healthier than ever thanks to the other expectant mothers we have here caring for them.”  
“And when exactly do you plan to return them to their fathers? Surely they have some wondering where they’ve gone?”  
“Alas, they are orphaned. Before I gave the orders against it, my first hired hands decided to subdue the fathers by killing them. Not my intention at all! The rest of the mothers and infants shall of course be returned in a timely manner once the tests yield results. But I’ve talked your ear off far longer than I intended to, you must be exhausted. Rest well knowing that you and your child are safe in my care.”  
He got up from his seat and crossed to a gilded rope which he pulled once before a guard entered and escorted me to yet another room. This one had a fresh nightgown laid out over a bed with a nightstand and oil lamp for illumination. The guard left me there to change and locked the door behind him.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, this chapter is hella short, but the next one will be longer I promise. :)

Chapter 7  
Sometime while I slept that night, a pair of hands rested against my arm as I lay on my side, and I would have been startled if I hadn’t recognized them as Sebastian’s. Opening my eyes, I saw his glowing above me in the darkness of the room.   
“I have subdued your guard. We should really be going, that is if you are done here?”  
I shook my head, knowing that he would be able to see me even in the blackness of the room, and sat up while he sat across from me; his hand still holding my arm.  
“No. The Viscount disclosed his plans to me, but there’s something more to these abductions. He claims that he’s looking for the fountain of youth, but he’s not only studying the children, but the mothers as well. He mentioned treatments that no one would voluntarily partake in, which means he’s been running experiments on the pregnant women. If he only wanted to test on infants, he wouldn’t waste time with taking the mothers as well. Undertaker didn’t find anything that would necessarily cause the deaths of the mothers, but the Viscount admitted that the victims died giving birth. It doesn’t make sense given that he’s taken every liberty to make sure that their health is at it’s fullest, so what could it be that killed the first two?”  
“What would you have me do?” He asked coyly.  
I took his hand from my arm and held it in both of mine as I spoke with a dubious scowl. “Investigate the guards.”  
“Beg pardon?”  
“I noticed something about the number of guards in relation to the number of women. I believe that some of them may be the fathers. The Viscount said that the first women’s husbands were killed, but why have there been no reports about them? Even putting that aside, one of the guards who brought me here seemed overly concerned about my health, if he were simply a hired hand, he wouldn’t bother asking those sorts of questions. The one outside my door, you didn’t kill him, did you?”  
Sebastian shook his raven locks from side to side. “No. I simply knocked him out.”  
Releasing his hand, I laid back against the mattress and yawned. “Good. So then, after you find out what you can about the men guarding this place, then you come find me. I’ll gather what I can from the mothers.”  
Sebastian leaned over me from where he sat on the bed and hovered just above my inflated belly with a concerned expression. “Try not to get yourself into too much trouble while I’m gone.”   
His hand came down gently over the swollen bump as he spoke, and we both tensed in surprise as a tiny foot kicked me from inside. My hand came up to rest over his as he looked at me with legitimate wonder plain on his face, and I smiled.   
“We’ll be fine, Sebastian.” I said, giving him another grin.  
He returned the smirk and placed a kiss where his hand had been before exiting as silently as a ghost.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8  
There came a knocking at my door some hours after Sebastian had left me, and I sat up before a voice called from the other side.  
“Are you awake, dear?” An unfamiliar female voice asked.  
I called back in my mock soprano voice. “Yes.”  
A moment later, a woman entered who I recognized as one of the missing women from the night before. She carried a simple noblewoman’s gown in her arms and brought it over to drape at the foot of my bed.  
“It might be a bit long, but I can hem it for you with pins if you’d like. I don’t imagine you want to socialize in nightclothes. My, but now that I get a closer look at you, you are quite young. Just how old are you dear?”  
She was staring right at my face, and I was relieved that I still had on the eye-patch I used while sleeping.  
“Thirteen-years.” I stated. It wasn’t uncommon for women to be married off as soon as they became my age, but the way she asked it made me uncomfortable.  
Her eyes widened. “And already with child? Oh, my! Well, I suppose most men do fancy the younger ones… Goodness, I’ve dawdled off haven’t I! Beg pardon, I’ll leave you to change. Feel free to come and find me in the lounge when you’re ready.”  
With that, the woman departed, and I frowned at the garment she had left at my feet. I hadn’t the slightest notion of how to put the bloody thing on properly. Luckily, I felt a familiar presence before I turned and saw a certain smirking demon standing beside the bed.  
“May I be of assistance?” He grinned.  
I half-heartedly frowned at his cheekiness, but nodded.

Once Sebastian had me done up in the horridly feminine dress, with my fake braid redone and laced with a bow, I stood before him and bit back my anger at his amused smirk.  
“What were you able to find out?” I asked.  
“It seems that you were correct in your assumption. All of the guards here are indeed the husbands to the women. The treatments that the Viscount has been administering are not being received voluntarily, but in exchange for a hefty compensation to the fathers. I took it upon myself to dig further, and discovered that the widowers to the victims as well as the remaining couples are all being black-mailed in order to keep them quiet about the experimenting and the deaths, but I still cannot say what it was precisely that killed the women.”  
“Well, keep sniffing about. Without that knowledge, the Queen won’t be satisfied, and neither shall I. It appears that everyone is free to come and go within the walls of this place, but if the Viscount has the fathers here as guards, that means he doesn’t want something to be seen. I only saw one of the infants when I arrived. The other may still be here, or…” I gripped at my stomach, feeling the movements of tiny limbs that added to my disquiet.  
Sebastian came closer and wrapped his arms around me before pressing his lips to the top of my head. I melted into his embrace, taking in his scent and the strong but delicate way he held me. I didn’t want him to let me go, but I knew that sooner or later we would be interrupted by someone, so I pulled back and reached up on my toes to kiss him swiftly before turning for the door. I spoke to him without looking back.  
“When all of this is over, I will notify the Queen of an ailment that has me bedridden and apologize profusely for any inconvenience it causes to the crown… The time is approaching, I can feel it. Let us be done with this as swiftly as possible, Sebastian.”  
“As you wish… my Ciel.”  
I cast a glance back to look at him, but he was already gone.

Forgoing the lounge, I wandered the hallways of the refurbished storehouse until I came upon a door. Not a guard was in sight, but the door itself was locked and I fumbled in my stocking for a set of tools to pick the mechanism. When I had the door open, I heard voices approaching, and quickly locked myself inside the room just as a pair of men passed by; both of them chatting noisily.  
“How much longer do you suppose he’ll keep them here?” One voice asked worriedly. I recognized him as the young man in the carriage. “I know he’s been treating us well, but think about it. Rebecca and Jocelyne, they both were acting sick right before they went into labor, and now Mary’s got it-”  
“Don’t worry yourself, John. They both had weak constitutions, you know that. Not to mention Becky was a whore, who knows what diseases she had? That’s not going to happen to Mary, she’s got better health; the Viscount even said so.”  
“Perhaps you’re right, but what about the baby…?”  
There was a break of silence before the other man spoke again.  
“Look, I know it’s hard, but you’ve just got to be patient.”  
“He said he’d let us go. How much longer does he intend to make me wait to have my son back?!” John shouted.  
“Calm down. You mustn’t let yourself get excited. Your son is perfectly alright, isn’t he? Sarah has been taking good care of him. So, let’s just carry on, alright?”  
There was another pause before John replied.  
“Yeah, I suppose you’re right…”  
Their voices trailed off, and I stepped away from the door and turned to look at the room around me. It was dark, but scattered oil lamps provided a shadowy glow. Taking a few steps in, I began to recognize the shapes of medical equipment and an operating table, beside which was a basinet with a rattle inside. Tentatively, I lifted the rattle and scowled at it. Setting the toy back in it’s place, I delved further into the room, taking up an oil lamp as I went. The rest of the chamber was vacant at a glance, but when I nearly tripped and fell over an unlit candlestick that had been left on the ground, I noticed that the floor had been marked with chalk. Casting the illumination of the lamp to my feet, I traced the chalked lines around the room and realized with sickening horror what the Viscount was doing with the mothers and children.  
A light flicked on and I jolted with surprise, never once hearing the door being unlocked. Spinning around, I saw the Viscount with an equally surprised look on his face, that swiftly melted into a deceptively charming smile.  
“Oh dear, seems a little bird flew into the wrong nest.”  
He shut the door behind himself and bolted it with an ominous ‘clack’.  
“You weren’t supposed to see until your child was ready, but I suppose the ritual will work regardless.”  
His shoes tapped noisily against the floor as he strode towards me with his poisonous smile.  
“In truth, I would much rather have saved you for last. You are so beautiful that this is going to make me upset for quite some time, mon Cher.”  
The operating table lay between him and myself, and I knew that I should move, but I felt a coldness coursing through me that kept me frozen in place. It was all too much like that day. Why did I have to see this again? Why did I have to remember that awful pain, yet again? Not only that pain, but the fresher pain of seeing it recreated not only once, but twice?  
‘Sacrafice.’ A voice inside my head replied. ‘All in this world is merely an exchange. An unspoken contract of compromise and self-gain. It is balance.’  
‘How could this possibly be a fair exchange.’  
‘Balance is not fair, it is not even equivalent. Balance is a result of any action. Consequence balancing out decision. All settling. Such is fate.’  
The Viscount was continuing to stride lazily toward me, so confident in himself that I wished to slap that stupid smirk right off his face.  
“I don’t suppose I’ll have any trouble from your husband, though. He probably doesn’t have the foggiest notion of where you’ve gone.”  
There was a tug in my right eye, before a shadow rose up behind the Viscount and clasped him hard on the shoulder. Sebastian grinned as Druitt turned and looked with fearful eyes into the demonic face of my lover. He really did not look like his human self in that moment, with glowing fire in his eyes and fangs as sharp as daggers.  
“So, sorry to keep you waiting, love. You would not believe the delay on the train.”  
I smirked as the Viscount screamed out in terror and fell to his knees before Sebastian.  
“Please, I had no notion that she was already claimed by a devil.”  
“Indeed, perhaps you should be more wary, though I don’t suppose it matters much now.”  
“I beg of you, devil! Spare me!”  
Sebastian glanced at me and I sighed begrudgingly before moving to stand alongside him. The Viscount looked between us and then to me.  
“Please dear lady, I did not wish to hurt you. It would have been painless.”  
“Was it so for the first women you killed? What precisely did you gain by offering their souls? Their children? There remains only one out of the two who were born, why didn’t you send that innocent to their fate as well?”  
The Viscount regained some of his composure before speaking. “He was not right. The demon would only take females… It’s fussy. That’s why I had to wait for them to give birth…”  
“I’ve heard enough. Don’t worry yourself, you shall live for now. The queen will want to hear what you have to say, but as for me, I only wish to see you get what you deserve.”

I chucked down the newspaper in aggravation. The Viscount was getting off with a mere year in prison on kidnapping charges, thanks to the cover up in the occult activities he had been performing. The queen wanted there to be no upset over the supernatural without evidence, and I couldn’t very well give her that without exposing myself and Sebastian. All of the couples had been let go after questioning, and receiving their gag-orders, and the child was returned to his father. I could not help but feel a stab of guilt that I was unable to give them justice for the loss of their loved one, but I brushed it aside, for there was nothing more I could do.  
My frustration was ebbed, when I heard Sebastian knocking at my chamber door.  
“Master, may I come in?”  
“Yes.”  
He entered, holding his violin, and wearing only his slacks and dressing shirt. The casualness of his appearance surprised me, though it wasn’t the first time I’d seen him out of his butler’s uniform.  
“You know that you don’t have to address me as ‘Master’ when we’re alone.”  
He settled the rest on his shoulder and strummed out a few notes on the violin. “Yes, but it is a force of habit I’m afraid. Rather I call you ‘Master’ here then slip and call you ‘love’ when we are accompanied.”  
Crossing the floor, his feet exposed, Sebastian crawled onto the bed and sat across from me before repositioning his violin to play. Bach poured from the strings as he slid the bow back and forth. A flurry of movements caused me to rest both of my hands over my stomach in surprise, and Sebastian stopped playing with a sudden halt, casting aside the violin, and reaching for me.  
“Are you alright?”  
I nodded.  
“She likes your playing.” I said softly.  
Sebastian blinked. “She?”  
“I think it may be a girl, but it’s only a hunch…” I reached for Sebastian’s hand, which was still outstretched, and placed it atop my stomach right where I had felt the baby. “You should try talking to her, I think she likes your voice, as well.”  
He paused before bringing his face closer to my belly. “Hello, little one.”  
There was a kick to Sebastian’s hand and he visibly jolted with surprise. I had rarely seen him blush, but he did so now, and it made me smile.  
“There are no words I know of to describe what I feel at this moment, but I believe ‘human’ would suffice.” He said, looking up at me. There was honesty in those burgundy eyes.  
“Sebastian, there is something that has been troubling me. If the Viscount was able to summon a demon…”  
“He wasn’t.”  
“What?”  
“I did not detect the presence of another demon anywhere near the storehouse or otherwise. No doubt the Viscount fancied that he could call upon demons as long as he had a human life to give, which is not how it works at all. Ritual sacrifice is not required, as you should know given our contract. Suffering oft calls out to us, like an aroma calls animals to food. Tormented souls are the best kind of nourishment for my kind. What killed the women and the one child, however, was a bacteria found in the food that had been left out for the captives. They must have been feeling ill for weeks before the extra exertion of labor took them.”  
“A bacteria?”  
He nodded.  
I was still unsettled. “There is something else, our contract… it is still in place.”  
“Indeed.”  
“My soul, my body… and my heart. They all belong to you. An exchange for a service.”  
He raised an eyebrow.  
“With the presence of a child, I think it best that we renegotiate the terms of our contract. I did not think of the consequences our actions would bring in the long term. What shall we do with a child, Sebastian? The truth can never be brought to light that we fathered her. We’d be pegged as lunatics or else users of black magic. And she would…”  
He pressed a hand gently to my lips. “You needn’t worry so, my love. There are ways in which we might conceal her origin, and still be present in her life while continuing on in ours. It will not be difficult. I shall remain as your butler, and you the Earl of Phantomhive. Once the child arrives, we will make our return to the manor with the infant ward you have taken into your care as your own. Given your age, it will likely shock the gossip mongers, but better they feed from that then the truth.”  
I slowly nodded. “Yes. That should work, but… then she won’t know that you are her father. We could not tell her the truth either, at least not until she was older.”  
With a sad smile, he gripped my hands. “Being present is enough for me. As for our contract, that is still in place, but I shall amend one detail. I will not devour your soul until the end of your natural life.”  
“Sebastian… you don’t have to do that.” I felt a jabbing mixture of emotions, knowing that this was how it had to be.  
He caressed my cheek and held my chin as he leaned in to kiss me. I kissed him back as the result of our love danced between us. 

Another three months passed quietly in London, when, as I was walking down the hall from my bedroom, I at last felt the jarring pain announcing the imminent arrival of our child.  
“SEBASTIAN!” I cried out, clutching at my, by now immense, belly. “Sebastian where are you!”  
He had me whisked up into his arms and was dashing down the hall before the last word left my mouth.  
“It’s alright, I’m here.”  
“God! Is this what my mother went through?!”  
Sebastian laughed light-heartedly. “I don’t believe your mother was carrying a demon when she gave birth, however…”  
I cut him off with a howl of pain. My legs and back ached with pulses that intensified every so often and I could feel my insides squeezing and then relaxing only to tense again in sharp bursts.  
“Make it end, bloody HELL!” I screamed.  
Sebastian had taken me back to my bed and was busying himself with removing my clothes, and trying to make me comfortable in the sheets, but without much luck.  
“You awful, bloody devil! What have you done to me, you bastard?!” I only half-felt sorry for spouting such insults at him, given that he only had to help me and was feeling absolutely no physical pain from this whatsoever. “I hate you so much!”  
He ignored the verbal abuse and made ready a basin of hot water and towels as I moaned and wailed. Once he had assembled everything he needed, he knelt before my uncovered feet and gave me an apologetic look.  
“I shall strive to do this properly. I am sorry that a trained physician couldn’t be present.”  
“Forget the apologies and get her out of me!”  
“You will need to push.”  
I pressed with all the effort I had in me, but it still took hours before the pain finally subsided and Sebastian stood with a small bundle in his arms. Panting, and barely conscious, I looked at the portrait of him holding our child, my child, in his arms. The baby did not cry, but made cooing noises that suggested it was breathing. I had no words.  
“It’s a girl.” Sebastian said softly.  
He walked around to my head and brought the tiny face of our daughter down to mine. I forced my eyes to focus and saw the little mouth, nose, cheeks, and eyes that all held residence on a chubby face beneath a crop of thick black hair. I didn’t think babies could be born with that much hair, but there it was matted all about her scalp. Her eyes, which opened after she let out an empathetic yawn, were blue.  
I put my hand up to take hers, and grabbed the tiny fingers of her pudgy hand before they curled around my own. She gurgled and my heart melted.  
“What should we call her?” Sebastian asked.  
I didn’t have to think long before answering.  
“Anne.”  
“After Madam Red?”  
I nodded, not breaking my eyes from that innocent face.  
“Are you certain?”  
I looked up at him, too exhausted to argue. “She was sick. There is no denying that, but she had love in her heart for me the same as I did for her. She never got to hold her child… It’s tragic.”  
I held out my arms to take the baby, and Sebastian set her gently in my embrace. My arms felt too weak to protect her, but I wrapped them around her as if they were an armor that could not break no matter what.  
“Not ‘Angelina’, but Anne, or Annie. I think it suits.” I looked up at him once more, questioningly.  
He nodded with a smile, putting his hand upon her head. “Anne… yes, that suits perfectly.” 

Assembled in the main hall, the servants all greeted me happily upon my arrival.  
“YOUNG MASTER!”  
Finny and Mey-rin threw their arms around me in a too tight hug, while Baldroy simply clapped a hand down on my shoulder.  
“Welcome back, sir!” Mey-rin squealed.  
“You’ve been away so long, we were beginning to worry that something had happened to you.” Finny fretted.  
Bard laughed. “Heh, if you’d been here, I would’ve fixed you a helping of stew that would’ve put you back on your feet right quick.”  
“Oh, come now,” Sebastian said, coming up behind me. “I sent you all regular correspondences that the master was fine. It appears as if that’s not the only thing you’ve forgotten in my absence, the manor is awash with dust, the state of the garden is appalling, and I detect the scent of charcoal.”  
The servants all went slack jawed at the sight of Sebastian, or rather the baby cradled in his arm.  
“Young Master, is that…” Finny’s eyes glimmered.  
“A baby!” Mey-rin exclaimed.  
“Well, what do you know.” Bard said, scratching his head.  
“Everyone, this is…”  
The front door of the manor slammed open before I could finish my sentence, and an absolutely cross, yet effeminate Lizzy burst through the door.  
“Ciel! Where have you been? You never answered any of my letters and by the time I decided to pay you a visit, I learned that you’d been called away. You shouldn’t keep a woman waiting! Oh-”  
Lizzy stopped dead in her outburst as soon as she saw Anne.  
“What a gorgeous baby.” She said softly, controlling her volume now. “Who on earth’s is it?”  
I shook off the interruption and cleared my throat.  
“Everyone, I would like you all to meet my ward, Anne. Her parents were tragically killed in a carriage accident, but have ties to the Phantomhives, so I decided to take her in and raise her as my daughter.”  
All the eyes in the room widened on the little girl, and then looked back at me.  
“Young Master, not to be disrespectful, but don’t you think you’re a bit young to become a father?” Bard asked.  
“The paperwork has all been completed. From now on I want you all to treat her as you would me.” I turned to address Lizzy specifically. “I hope that she will become like a daughter to everyone in this room.”  
Elizabeth’s eyes twinkled and she nodded once. A brief chill ran through me as I realized the extensive princess treatment my daughter was about to receive at the hands of my fiancée.  
“Mey-rin.” Sebastian called.  
“Uh, y-yes sir.” The house-maid stepped forward.  
Sebastian handed Anne off to her and she visibly reddened.  
“I want you to attend to Mistress Anne as well as your other duties, and act as her nanny if you would. Do you feel proficient enough to do as I have asked?”  
Mey-rin flinched before nodding. “Yes, sir. I will take care of her, I will.”  
The atmosphere in the room felt both excited and nervous, but I felt relief run through me. Using my cane, I tapped the tile floor and addressed the room.  
“Well, then, don’t just stand there. I’ve been away for some time now and I’m ready to relax and have dinner. Lizzy, would you accompany me to the billiard room for chess? We can bring Anne with us so that you two may become acquainted and Mey-rin can attend to setting the table.”  
Lizzy nodded and was handed Anne, who was busy sleeping like a rock. Elizabeth smiled and carried the baby upstairs beside me. I threw a look at Sebastian as we ascended the staircase, and he smiled in return. 

Epilogue  
One-Year Later.  
“Da-da.” Anne pointed at Sebastian while her other finger was jammed into the side of her mouth. She sat on the carpet amidst blocks and stuffed toys. “Da!”  
Lizzy chuckled from her seat across from me. “How adorable that she calls you that. You really are just like a second father to her, though, aren’t you Sebastian?”  
Sebastian smiled, trying not to smirk, and bowed his head. “Please, you flatter me, lady Elizabeth. I am merely a glorified babysitter.”  
“Don’t be silly, you’re remarkable with her, isn’t he, Ciel?” Lizzy asked, turning back to me.  
“Indeed. He is rather good with children.” I threw an appreciative smirk at him before taking my turn. “Check-mate.”  
I flicked my piece and knocked over Elizabeth’s king, but it accidently rolled onto the floor and was snatched up by Anne. Sebastian swiftly picked her up and relieved her of the small game piece.  
“She can be a handful, but I suppose she adopted that trait from you, my lord.”  
Lizzy laughed, and I held out my arms for Sebastian to bring me the baby. He handed her off, along with the chess piece, and slyly brushed fingers with me for an instant that was too fast for anyone else to detect. I placed the piece at the side of the board and offered Anne a stuffed rabbit instead, which she gnawed the ears of.  
That was happiness. It wasn’t completely fair, nor balanced equally, but it was there. Wrapped in my arms.  
THE END

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it.


End file.
